Utah Books

This is my favorite story out of all the dear America books. I fell in love with Libby West and her story. It is a exciting tale while also telling about a part of history that is often not talked about. A must read.

I have not read this in a long while, but I still remember it and that's what counts in a book. Her father takes them away from their home to follow the progress of the building of the transcontinental railroad. Full of adventure.

I usually don't read Dear America books, but my uncle bought this for me, so I decided to read it. I actually found that it was good enough to read again. On my American History Regents, I used almost all of the facts in this book in my essay. I would recomend this book to anybody who likes history and an interesting story combined.

This book was really great!I loved it except sometimes it was sort of boring. but worth reading!

The Dear America series is possibly the worst ever. I mean, they aren't even written by the same author. This is because none of the authors are good enough to write their own series. There is absolutely nothing to recommend this book except maybe a history lesson worse than anything you could find in a textbook. At least some others in the series had some SLIGHTLY interesting characters, but not this one. Where do they get this stuff? The Dear America Author's Book of Characters, Situations, Historical Settings, ect.? I mean, really: the building of the transcontinental railroad. BOOOOORING! Take my advice: only read this book or any others in the series if you are abslolutly STARVING for something to read. Maybe then you could borrow it from the library to read in a day or two. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!

I loved, loved, loved this book. I love all things "animal" and was especially moved by the special bond between bird and man. I'm not going to loan this book out for fear that it won't be returned.

I found myself crying several times while reading Providence of a Sparrow, struck by the honesty, humor and insight of Chris's writing. It is not a book about Sparrows; rather what lessons can be learned from nature. A wonderful read for anyone who loves the natural world, has every suffered from depression, or believes that some of the most profound lessons in life can be gleaned from the most unlikely of places.

Tragically, Chris Chester died a horrendous death not too long ago. Although this book is not for everyone it, I can assure you it carries a message that we could all stand to hear.

Here is wisdom, a profound and insightful exposition of the world and its avian and human inhabitants. Chester's depth of spirit, breadth of knowledge, and width of insight are breathtaking. Read this book slowly and lovingly and you will like yourself and your neighbors better.

I am so much richer for having read this book. It is lyrical and profound; funny and witty. The intelligence of the writer and of "B" his bird amazed me. I can't look at life the same way I always have, since reading it. Thank you Chris for writing this book.

This is the most interesting book I have ever read (and I belong to 3 Book Clubs), so I read A LOT! I am admittedly a bird lover, but this book struck my heart. I have never written a review to Amazon, but this book is so special that I have to shout READ IT!!!! It will change your life. It blew me away. Amazing! Can't let it go....day after day, it reminds me of what life is all about. Saw Telegraph Hill. Doesn't compare. This is real. Heartrending. Intelligent. This book will keep you spellbound. A sure winner for book clubs, and anyone who wants to read a truly FABULOUS book.

After reading this excerpt of Caitlin Myer's Hoodoo, I feel as if I'm holding on, balanced breathlessly like the hoodoo from which this novel garners its name. Myer's writing takes me there, right there: in the car as Alice Lott gives birth. then in the dusty trailer park yard where the missionaries. The urgency of the Alice's voice births an excitement in me, and I want to know! I want to know what happens next and next and next, and then what. Which, for me, is what great writing is all about.

I can't wait to read the rest of this novel!

Myers' entertaining excerpt gathers the skeins of the story of Alice Lott and her baby to produce an artistic rendering of innocent Lolita meeting the Apocalypse.

For everyone who ever confused true love/lust with a summons from the Almighty (and vice versa.)

I can't wait to read the rest.

I'm shocked, shocked I say, that this book has not yet been published. The writing is spectacular, the characters intriguing, the setting unusual, and the insight (at least one girl's version of it) into the Mormon religion is illuminating. There's sex and god and religion and lust and danger and ... sex and...god...Well, really, what more does one really need? Way to go, Ms. Myer!

The Lott family's conversion to a religious life is a piercingly insightful tale of the taming of the wild American, both terrifying and funny. Alice might not be too sure about the tenets of Mormonism, but her faith in God doesn't waver when she meets the man, old enough to be her father, that her Heavenly Father tells her in a revelation she will marry.

Myer's voice is unerring in twelve-year-old Alice's narrative; she tells her story with menace, mercy and humor. The clear light of the visionary's sight and the dark side of religion are both brilliantly depicted in Hoodoo. I look forward to reading the rest of this novel and seeing more from Myer in the future.

This beginning reminds me of the green light and warm wind just before a tornado. Everything is clear, tangible, even beautiful, and everyone knows a catastrophe is coming.

I love the hallucinatory detail, the poetry of the writing, and the air of classical tragedy that blends so well with the brilliantly realized contemporary setting.

If you love fine, classical literature, L'Assommoir (Oxford edition) is a MUST read. Along with Lolita, it is the single most memorable book I have ever read and I am a voracious reader. The plot is devastating but the book is written in such descriptive, beautiful prose (especially the scene where Gervaise, the protaganist, and her friends prepare for and partake in a bacchanalian feast in her home), that you will be very glad you read it.

L'Assommoir came up in a Yahoo reading group, I had previously read Germinal and I decided to give this novel a try. L'Assommoir was quite interesting, and rather depressing. Zola did his homework, in a way that reminds me of Nelson Algren. After reading L'Assomoir, I continued on to Nana. I will read additional Zola novels in the future, I am sure, as I get around to them.

I enjoyed every chapter of this book. It was so depressing at times but it does help to understand this time period in France. My sister couldn't finish it because it was so depressing. I recommend this book for others to see how life can be if any substance is abused especially alcohol.

i really enjoyed this novel, it has to be zola at his very best. before reading this i had read both 'germinal' and 'nana' and it was very interesting to hear the story of their parents and upbrinings. that's what i love about the rougon-maquart series, you get to do what you hardly ever do with other great novels - keep going! and it's not as if zola was just churning these novels out without thought as to how they stand on their own, pretty much all of the novels in the rougon-maquart series do stand on their own, and are exceptional novels. zola describes the poverty and squallidness of life in the paris slums like a master, and he pulls no punches. when this novel was released there was an outrage due to his filthy language...and it's not just the language of his characters, he uses this vulgar language as his own when telling the story. and he does push it about as far as you can go, which was a brave thing to do if you consider how long ago this book was published. the description of the feast in the laundry was mouthwatering, i honestly felt that i had been sitting at that worktable and gorging myself with them, so immersed was i in his writing. zola goes into much detail when describing the more mundane things in life in those days, washing clothes, ironing, etc... it was a real insight into how they did things back then, and besides the curiosity of a reader a hundred years later, he made it interesting and let us see the work from the eyes of the low paid working class of paris. drunkeness plays a large part in the novel. there is binge upon binge and throughout the book witness the decadence of gervaise and coupou. their ultimate downfall is a tragic one considering where they started, especially coupeu. coupeu's decent into alcoholism was particularly interesting to read as he starts off as more or less t-total, just a drink here and there, for appearances sake. you hear the thought processes of someone in denial, kidding themselves that the drink is doing them no harm. and it's very relevant to this day. for me, the best part of the novel comes later on when gervaise and husband are living in the block of flats. the story of the drunkard who had killed his wife and who battered his young daughter was so touching...and infuriating. there is one point where he brings a whip out on her and it reads so brutally it brought a tear to my eye. the story of that little girl and her character really opened my eyes... all of us are aware of the evils of the world but to be a part of such an evil, and to read it in such detail makes very very powerful writing. another part of the novel i thought very touching was the starvation of gervaise near the end of her novel and especially the point where she finally gets her meal and bursts into tears after sticking a potato in her mouth. don't get me wrong though...this is not a tear jerker, the novel is full of black humour, mostly at 'clip-clop's' expense. the bitchiness of the loreleoux made me angry at times...at others it made me laugh out loud.

an excellent book, certainly one of the best in the rougon-maquart series. i loved it.

If you're seeking an introduction to Zola's 'Naturalism' but don't know where to begin among the multitude of his novels, this is the best place to start. "L'Assommoir" (which translates poorly into English as 'the boozer' or 'the beer joint', a lower-class drinking establishment) is the story of the laundress Gervaise and her descent into alcoholism. It is also, more importantly, a brilliant panorama of lower-class Paris during the time of Baron Haussmann's redesign of the city. With a cast of memorable characters and several unforgettable scenes that showcase the extent of Zola's research and his empathy for his characters, this is probably his greatest achievement. It deserves to be considered one of the greatest French novels of the 19th century.

I read excerpts of this in university, and then purchased the book as it was so compelling. I have never read anything that comes close to really giving one a true account of the soldier's experience in the First World War. The descriptions are poetic and profound, and the book puts it together in a manner that conveys the nuances of the war in ways no film or interview can - not any that I've ever seen anyway. There are still passages that stick in my head (years later) because they are so vivid and eye-opening - more so than anything else I've read or seen on the MANY documentaries and films and research I've done about this time. If you're doing research on this period - this is an excellent book. A good companion is Siegred Sassoon's Memoirs of an Infantry Officer (much more factual than the embellished Robert Graves' book Good-bye to All That. This is worth every penny and something you'll refer to again and again if you're a history buff and like to read.

Rites of Spring is an unparalleled work of cultural and historical synthesis, and easily the most interesting cultural history of 20th Century Europe available.

This book totally changed the way I thought about early 20th Century history. Eksteins is not only ingenious in thought, but also in the way he arranges the story. This books is deserving of all the accolades it has recieved.

A brilliant book and one that should be read by anyone with an interest in the first half of the twentieth century. Eksteins brings a fresh and thought provoking outlook to the tired tropes about the Great War. It was the first book I read that signaled a new shift in the perspective of that war. Other writers that take off from here are Paul Fussell, Niall Ferguson and Hew Strachan. But this is the first and by far the best. Don't miss this extraordinary book.

Professor Ecksteins' book is, on one level, a history that places the Great War in the context of the popular cultural zeitgeist that produced it. While other books have analyzed the outbreak of the war from the perspective of politicians and diplomats, Ecksteins portrays it as a popular cultural upheaval. In this way, this book distinguishes itself from other histories of the period.

On a deeper level, however, the book is a meditative essay on the problem of modernity. In a brief but elegant way, the author tells the story of how the West descended into aesthetic nihilism as it entered the 20th Century. At the turn of the 20th Century, Europe (in culture, art and thought) gave up on the prospect of reason and ethics, and placed all of its hope in aesthetics as an absolute standard of value. By abandoning the metaphysical True and Good in favor of existential Beauty, European culture freed itself to transgress all rules and restraints in pursuit of the tragic and the sublime. The author points out that this was as true on the battlefield as it was in Stravinsky. It was this cultural movement that enabled "total war" and set the tone for the century to come.

The reason this book is so important today is that modernity has not left us; indeed, it has metastasized around the globe. While this book suggests no solution to our problem, it does help to explain how we got here.

Co-owner Betsy Burton has captured the store's own story in her book, The King's English. Complete with book lists, this hardback is loaded with tales of author signings gone wrong, success stories, and hardships. With so few independent booksellers still holding on in a land of giants, The King's English tells of a time both readers and writers long for.

I highly recommend a visit to The King's English bookstore, but if you can't make the distance, the book of the same title is the next best alternative.

After reading "The King's English", I decided it would have to live on my bedside table indefinitely as a resource for all things readable. The only thing that would be better is a second edition!

I'm a lover of books and bookstores, but for all of the author's enthusiasm, she didn't turn me into an unqualified supporter of the independent bookstore. If anything, I came away with a negative attitude. I found the book overly preachy, and the positions not fully explained. I did enjoy the entertaining stories about various author visits. And the descriptions of the authors that Burton likes were enlightening. I do admire her devotion to the business - the unfathomable amounts of money she must have sunk into it over the years, and the determination she has to keep it going. But much of the book rubbed me the wrong way, culminating with the Harry Potter book release story: Buying up the chains' stock to sell at their own store sounds like an unseemly business practice to me.

Betsy Burton writes a lively, humorous book about her experiences as an independent bookseller. You are there when Isabel Allende talks to her audience; you feel Betsy's humiliation when John Mortimer arrives and she has some problems with "Mum's car." She also writes about serious topics such as censorship and competition with chains and superstores. The one criticism I have is that there isn't an index with a listing for all the authors she writes about. If you've never been to a bookstore to meet an author, you will after reading this book.

This book is a delight. Passionate, strong-willed, full of love for literature and liberty --especially for our First and Fourth Amendments -- Betsy Burton gives an account of her first twenty-five years as one of the owners of The King's English, an independent bookstore in Utah's Salt Lake City.

For the person who wants to learn more about the book industry, you'll learn about sales reps and what goes into getting on to various bestseller lists. For the person concerned about protecting our rights, you'll learn about some of the threats that have been made to bookstores, from both individuals and the government. For the person who simply adores reading, you'll learn a bit about how your precious books make it into your hands, and if you took the process for granted, you will take it for granted no longer.

You'll also learn some of the pitfalls of opening a business with little (or no) experience, how to deal (or perhaps how not to deal) with the press, and how to work (or not work) with partners and employees, and last, but not least, how to maintain conviction in the face of cut-throat competition (where the competition is likewise mysteriously cutting its own throat).

Finally, you will enjoy Betsy Burton, and the way she barrels down on problems. I laughed out loud when I read about how she could not get a key to open the trunk of a car (a problem I have also experienced - glad to see I'm not alone) and how she dealt with a Harry Potter crisis.

Well worth reading!

the rare times rick put down a fork and talked in depth about playing point guard or some other keen insight, the book was marvelous, that happened in maybe 10 pages ... i have read hundreds of sports books and next to vitale's first book, this was probably the worst one i muddled through ... loved rick as a coach--his triangle and two vs zona is legendary--but i would've liked to have heard some of his ex-players discuss what it was like to play for him--word on the street, it was far from a picnic basket ... akin to coach k's books, who saints himself w/o ever revealing his darkside, it's fun to see the real story ...

read dean smith's 'a coach's life,' feinstein's 'a season inside,' 'breaks of the game' by david halberstam, or 'the miracle of st anthonys' if you want to digest great basketball stories ... or the best of them all, pat conroy's MY LOSING SEASON

compared to those, rick's was a lady finger dud

Sports books that attempt to cash in on the immediate popularity of the author often suffer in quality due to the desire to strike while the iron is hot. I am glad to say that My Life on a Napkin does not suffer from this flaw.

Gene Wojciechowski, contributor on this book, did an extremely good on format and finding and maintaining Majerus' voice. His previous work on Nothing But Net (Bill Walton's autobiography) has served him well.

The most interesting technique used in the book is the interjection of short anecdotes culled from Majerus' friends and family. The juxtaposition between his view and the view of his friend/family member/player is humorous at times. This is a technique I haven't seen used before in this type of book and I find that it seems to work better than simple paraphrasing would.

In short, the only reason this book doesn't deserve four stars is because it falls far short of the high standards set by autobiographies/biographies of individuals whose careers have already ended. I feel this book focuses too much on the recent to the detriment of the early years. For example, A Coach's Life by Dean Smith has an entirely different perspective because in many ways his story is finished. This allows him to devote equal time to all portions of his life and career.

Additionally, it would have been nice to have an appendix containing information on every player who had ever lettered for Coach Majerus. If we could see the tremendous legacy that he has had on the lives of all the students who have passed through his programs it would reinforce hsi commitment to his players' well-being. To me, that would be an even greater testimony to his legacy than the stories presented in the preceding chapters.

It's forty-five minutes before the WAC tournament championship game. Majerus has pulled into the parking lot in front of the gym only to discover that some nimrod has parked in his space, a space that costs him $2,000 a year to reserve. What does he do? He parks somewhere else, comes back and lets the air out of two of the guy's tires. When his friend asks him why he only selected two tires, Majerus says, "Because he only had one spare."

Such are the experiences that encompass 'My Life On A Napkin'. We see Majerus for what he is, the world traveling, food connoisseur, who values loyalty, a good massage, and an occasional fantasy involving Cindy Crawford. Covered in his book are some of the following:

* Majerus' discipleship under Al MacGuire while at Marquette, and Don Nelson while with the Golden State Warriors.
* Majerus' quick process of overtaking BYU as the team to beat in the WAC.
* The difficulties of recruiting, particularly in a place like Utah.
* Majerus' propensity for speeding. Upon accelerating to over 100 MPH, Majerus once told a concered friend, "Hey, if we crash, I'm you're airbag."
* His affinity with living in hotels.
* The 1998 NCAA tournament and his famous triangle and two defense that shut down number one seeded Arizona and North Carolina.

Also of note is Majerus' ceaseless wit and humor. A group of cheerleaders once came to do a promotional at Rick's hotel. He told them, "Don't worry if you see me staring at your belly buttons. It's mostly because I haven't seen mine in years."

Majerus shares truth about recruiting, the intense competition between other coaches, and how he took a bunch of non-sensational and mostly mormon kids and came within 5 minutes of being the 1998 national champions.

No coach is as openly eccentric as Majerus, and in 'My Life on a Napkin', you will find out why he is not only revered as a basketball mind, but also as a comedic juggernaut.

After getting this book I could not put it down. I first became aware of Majerus after he led his un-athletic Utah team to the NCAA Final Four in 1998. His press conferences after those games were part basketball pontification and part stand-up comedy routine. His book is a lot like those press conferences: serious about the game he loves, but not afraid to crack a joke at anytime. The stories about his lack of fashion sense and eating habits will leave you doubled over. For "gym rats" everywhere!

Far and away the best book I have read in the past year. Coach Majerus' passion for his players will leave you mesmerized. The best part of the book are all the quotes added from former players, friends, coaches, family members,etc...Rick never was much of a great athlete, but he knew the game from an early age and was considered the epitome of a team player. Majerus' stories from his days at Marquette and Ball State to his time with Don Nelson and Del Harris make for a great read. If you like sports and admire the true work of a "team" you will love this book.

Kenn Harper's Give Me My Father's Body is undeniably and superbly researched; easily the book's crowning achievement. Occasionally though, I was annoyed with the "what if" scenarios. At least twice in the book Harper says what would have happened if things had gone another way. In one instance, the book describes Minik's plan to return to the Greenland and to lead a group of Inuit to the North Pole. He hoped to attain international honour for his people. Harper made the declaration that even had Minik tried, there was no way that he would have been successful. He further added that Minik's desire to prove the superiority of his race was an ethnocentric idea no doubt learned from the white people of New York, that the Greenland Inuit would balk at such ideas and that, with nothing to gain but glory for their people, they would surely refuse to help Minik. Even if Harper's learned ethnocentrism theory is correct, Harper has no way of ever knowing what Minik could have accomplished had he tried. If Minik had learned such ideas from white people, who's to say the Greenland Inuit wouldn't in turn learn such ideas from Minik? The point is, no one knows what would have happened and it is futile to guess (even for the well-informed). Also, the edition of the book that I have, has included discussion questions at the end for readers groups. These are very laughable. To paraphrase a typical question, "Kenn Harper lives among the people that he writes about and is therefore the greatest historian and writer to ever write about Northern peoples. Discuss how his portrayal of Eskimos is the most accurate description ever to be put on paper." But despite the embarrassing readers club guide at the end and the occasional subjective statement from Harper, the book is eye-opening about the victims of science and was a pleasurable read.

Poor Minik, captured by white traders and brought to Manhattan to be a freak! It was the age of freaks, when everyone who was different was first taken away from their home, and then put on display. Minik found out that his beloved father had been stuffed and mounted for all to jeer at the New York Museum of Natural History.

Author Harper has been through the files of the Museum and what he has come up with will convince even people who love the Museum, that reparations are in order. Eskimo people are not the only ones outraged at the long ago disposition of native relics. It is still worthy of outrage. What puzzles me is actor Kevin Spacey's interest in this affair. His preface to the book is well-written, not that I believe he actually put pen to paper to write it up, but clearly he has an emotional investment in this material and, from what I understand, he is planning to play Minik himself once his duties as Lex Luthor are finished in the new Superman movie. But why not let a native actor play the part? My in-laws who know Kenn Harper by reputation, and who have seen him speak in public, say that Spacey is part Inuit and hgas had a long interest in Peary's expeditions.

Peary himself emerges from Harper's well-researched book as a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand he showed true courage in surmounting obstacles and sub zero temperatures. On the other hand he was not particular gifted in solving human personnel difficulties, and seems to have grown impatient if his will was crossed by others (or by the hand of God). We have all known men like Peary--impetuous, self-assured, and gifted. But few of us have known the crushing tragedy of Minik of Qaanaaq, of Greenland's icy shores.

This book is a must-read. The reader must come into it ready to make his or her own conclusions about the material, though, as it is written to persuade a certain viewpoint. With no other viewpoints offered to compare this one to, it is difficult to say for certain if this one is correct. The story is one that anyone interested in humanity, globalization, anthropology or just an interesting story should read.

Storyline is very intriguing, but the writing is a bit droll. It is also longer than necessary.

Kenn Harper has managed to bring together an amazing story through detailed research. Minik, the Polar Eskimo child, was brought to the US by Robert Peary and essentially placed on display. The story of his disconnected life is full of pathos and sorrow. Yet Harper weaves the story with life.

Peary's behaviors were simply egotistic and reprehensible. He treated the Eskimos as his property. He placed their lives in harms' way by bringing them to a culture and location that assaulted their senses and immune systems. Minik was the price paid for that deed.

I did get bogged down in names from time to time, especially as Harper recounted the financial misdealings of Wallace, who had taken responsibility for Minik. But overall, the story is entertaining and enlightening. It speaks to the ethnocentrism of Peary's generation and to the isolation of the Polar Eskimos. It took me a long time to read and absorb this book but it was rewarding in the end... to see and feel a culture so far away.

'The Mountain Meadows Massacre' is a story in which multiple factors came together at exactly the same time to produce an epic tragedy. If one or two of these factors hadn't been present, it wouldn't have happened. First, there was the antipathy of the Mormons for the 'gentiles': Second there was the antipathy of the settlers for the Mormons: Third, there was the immense of a war between the Mormons and the Union: Fourth, there was abusive language directed at Mormon leaders: Sixth, there was lethal opporunism on the part of Utah Indians: and Seventh, there was the willingness of John D. Lee and members of the Iron County militia to placate the Indians and destroy Mormon enemies. All of these things added up to produce one of the most destructive pioneer massacres in the history of the nation.

Still, all of the above doesn't quite explain what happened. Civilized white men--under the guise of protectors--gunned down civilized white men, women and children. How did it happen? Fear of an Indian war? Hatred for the anti-Mormon settlers? Anger at the government? I really don't know.

Years ago, while traveling through Southern Utah, I decided to visit the massacre site. Asking locals the location, I only got hard stares. Using Brooks' book, however, I located it. I had to open gates and drive through grassy pastures with little trace of anything resembling even a dirt track. When I arrived at my destination, there were a couple of old picnic tables--nothing more. Maybe seventy-five yards away there was a rock cairn. I remembered Juanita Brooks telling that the bodies of the settlers, when discovered by the owner of the property, were gathered together into a mass grave and buried under a rocky cairn. Sure enough, on the other side of the cairn there was a tiny plaque giving a totally erroneous account of the fight. It went something like this "On such and such a date in 1857, 150 California settlers were killed here, in their fighting pits, in a battle against the Indians."

Nope. That's not what happened at all. Propaganda. I understand that the battle/massacre ground has now been developed with a more accurate description of events. I wouldn't know. I haven't been back since.

Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico

It's definitely a painful story but needed to be told, and Ms Brooks presented a detailed, marvelous manuscript. She told it the way it happened and didn't gloss over the barbarity of the whole situation and covered thoroughly the feelings and sentiments in Utah at the time. John D. Lee took the blame and was executed twenty years later and cleansed the others and the church, neutralizing the ugly massacre so people could move on with their lives, and the Mormons could start working with the US rather than against the federal government. Well worth the time to read and refer to actual documents - very academic and precise, but that I believe makes the book creditible. Good job - not another cover-up.

This book is for anyone interested in Mormon or religious history. Mormonism is not the only religious sect with a dark history.

THIS IS AMERICAN HISTORY IN PRINT!!! A MORMON WROTE THE BOOK, A MORMON COLLECTED INFORMATION FROM RELIABLE SOURCES, INCLUDING THE MORMON TEMPLE ARCHIVES, THE AMERICAN GOVT. ARCHIVES, DIARIES, TESTIMONIES OF TRIALS, OF THE MASSACRE, SO, WHY SHOULDN'T THE STORY BE TOLD TO AMERICAN STUDENTS AT AN EARLY AGE AS PART OF AMERICAN HISTORY? IS IT LESS OF A MASSACRE THAN THE BATTLE WITH THE INDIANS IN WYOMING? OUR SHAME OF AMERICAN SLAVERY IS TAUGHT AND THE UTAH WAR WITH BRIGHAM YOUNG'S THEOCRACY IN UTAH SHOULD BE TAUGHT. THIS BOOK IS A GOOD INTRODUCTION TO THE MORMONISM OF AMERICA. WE KNOW MORMOMISM CHANGES WITH EACH NEW PROPHET, BUT, IF PROPHET SMITH'S REVELATIONS WERE TRUE, THE DOCTRINES AND COVENANTS WOULD REMAIN THE SAME AND NOT CHANGING DRAMATICALLY WITH EACH NEW PROPHET. CHRISTIANITY IS THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY AND FOREVER, MORMONSIM IS NOT CHRISTIANITY AND IS EVER CHANGING. GET THIS BOOK FOR REAL INSIGHT TO THIS CULT, "MORMONISM, AMERICAS ISLAM". GOOGLE, BRIGHAM YOUNG'S SERMONS EXCERPTS AND BE SHOCKED. HIS CONFLICTS WITH THE AMERICAN GOVT. SHOULD NO LONGER BE GLOSSED OVER. AT THE SAME TIME, THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE'S DECLARATION, NO LAMANITES, NO DNA FOR ISRAELITES,EVIDENCE OF STEEL SWORDS, CHARIOT WHEELS OR WARS OF THE ANCIENT TRIBES, FOUND IN AMERICA, MEANS THE BOM IS FICTION. AND, THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE IS ALSO A FALSE TRANSLATION OF THE EGYPTIAN PAPYRI. IN OTHER WORDS, EXPOSE THESE BOOKS OF FICTION AND BE DONE WITH IT, ONCE AND FOR ALL. AMAZING JUANITA BROOKS NEVER PITCHED THE BOM AFTER SHE RESEARCHED FOR THIS BOOK! THE BOOK IS SIMPLY WRITTEN AND A MUST READ!!

To be honest, I was hesitant to read "Mountain Meadows Massacre" by Juanita Brooks as she was a life-long mormon and, frankly, I was skeptical that she would treat the slaughter of 120 to 150 innocent souls with anything that even remotely resembled with candor; after all, the cult has an extremely well-established history of censoring and covering up even the most benign (but certainly well deserved) criticisms of their so-called religion. I was also rather puzzled by other authors on the subject who frequently referred to Brook's book and finally decided to find out why. I certainly was not disappointed.

While Brooks' work is now dated (it was originally published in 1950) and later researchers have uncovered additional horrors regarding the brazen butchering of so many people, she actually does an outstanding job of reporting on this horrible tragedy. Considering the amount of research she did, most likely from nearly all of the documentation that was available at the time, she does an extraordinary job in piecing together the details of this infamous blight on American history. Brooks assembled a large number of resources obtained from numerous interviews, newspaper accounts written at the time, court documents, affidavits, and even Congressional records to provide a chilling account of the massacre. At first, I felt that she treated some of those responsible (especially Brigham Young) with kid gloves but as the work progressed, she eventually placed most of the blame where it belonged - I'm rather stunned (as apparently was Brooks) that she was never excommunicated by the cult. Interestingly, she goes so far as to state that she even attempted to interview, as well as tried to schedule an appointment with, David O. McKay, the cult's "president", about the massacre only to be turned away - even though she offered to stay in Salt Lake City indefinitely in order to speak with him.

Interestingly, Brooks also makes no bones about the fact that the only fanatic punished for the atrocity, John D. Lee, was clearly used as a scapegoat for the barbaric behavior of so many other members of the cult that joined him in the carnage of September 11, 1857.

Of course, not all that Brooks wrote is gold. There were times when I felt as if she tried to minimize certain things - she never fully ascribes all of the responsibility that Brigham Young deserves (although there can be no question that he was an evil participant who sacrificed his "adopted son," John D. Lee), she tries to claim that the cult members involved may have been subject to "mob psychology" or "war hysteria" who lead otherwise "ordinary" lives, and that the cult now owns that property and had previously "given their approval" to build a "monument" on the site. Disturbingly, Brooks notes that attempts to turn over even a small portion of Mountain Meadows over to the U.S. Forest service or other Federal agencies have failed. Even now, 150 years later, the cult refuses to turn over the site, refuses to put a cross on the current monument (because the cult is not Christian), and continues to deny reality by accepting responsibility for the massacre. Even Gordon B. Hinckley, their current "president" (i.e., Satan incarnate on Earth) has stated "that which we have done here [at Mountain Meadows] must never be construed as an acknowledgment on the part of the church of any complicity in the occurrences of that fateful and tragic day." Some things never change. . .

It's only too bad that Brooks never gave up her cult - how anyone could continue to support such an evil institution, especially after uncovering so much iniquity, is almost unfathomable.

I'd order all my books from them if i could, plus it supports a charity. It got here quickly and in good condition. Completely satisfied

"The Riverkeepers" is one of the most potent calls for environmental awareness and action I have ever read. It is an inspiration for all those interested in becoming serious advocates of a clean world. It stands right along side Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" with it's eye-opening accounts environmental havoc created by thoughtless, greedy, untreated sewage spewing municipalities, chemical companies, power generating plants and manufacturing facilities.

It is the story of how the Hudson River "Riverkeepers" came to be- spawned from a small group of sport and commercial fishermen, the Hudson River Fishermen's Association with their ardent yet eloquent spokesman, Robert H. Boyle, author of "The Hudson River: A natural and unnatural history" and a contributing writer to "Sports Illustrated", all of whom were fed-up with the river being used as toxic waste dump, poisoning the fish, fouling the drinking water and seriously endangering the health and lives of literally millions of people who live both in the Hudson Valley where the headwaters begin at Lake Tear in the Adirondack Mountains and runs South 315 miles down to New York City Harbor where the river meets the Atlantic Ocean and where most of the pollution is concentrated. A sad commentary on one of America's most productive bodies of water.

Significantly and appropriately, this is where the birth of America's first well organized environmental legal challenges to the desecration of America's waterways started. It is the personal stories of those who chose to take a stand and fight seemingly undefeatable corporate giants like General Electric, Con Ed, et al. By combining forces, such groups as the NRDC; Pete Seeger's group, Clearwater; Scenic Hudson, et al., have been able to rectify many wrongs to the environment.

The personal stories of author's John Cronin and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. are inspiring and heartwarming- their trials, tribulations and success' in fighting for environmental justice are a profound demonstration of courage and dedication.

The success of Riverkeepers has replicated itself all over America with separate, but associated groups under the umbrella of the National Alliance of River, Sound & Bay Keepers and most every major body of water in America now has a program.

This is a top choice manual for environmental activism. Highly recommended!

Cronin and Kennedy offer a hopeful and reasonable approach to environmentalism by documenting the great strides that citizens have made along the Hudson River. One of the most common critisims of environmentalism is that it fails to take the livelihood of workers into account. The authors show that this doesn't have to be the case and that protecting our environment can actually ensure better job security.
Along with the specific example of the Hudson River, the authors go through the variety of federal laws that have been put in place to protect communities and show how they were able to use those laws to go up against some of the most powerful industries in the country.
Anyone doubtful of the power of regular citizens in this country would find "The Riverkeepers" a refreshing read.

I spent most of my younger years in the Hudson Valley, and the work of the Riverkeepers has made a profound and positive impact on our local environment. The story of how they have stood up to the corporate and government polluters is outlined here and is inspiring.

The real story of The Riverkeepers is outlining why they do what they do - our right to clean air, water, and an unspoiled environment. These are not priviliges, they are rights.

For years, anti-environmental hacks have been trying to convince us that to be for the environment is to be anti-property rights, anti-growth, and, as Rush Limbaugh calls us, "wackos." The Riverkeepers points out that these people are motivated by at best a misunderstanding of the issues, and at worst motivated by pure profit.

To be an environmentalist, The Riverkeepers points out, is to be for the very essence of American democracy: the rights of the people to stand up and protect our children, property, livelihoods, and future. The Riverkeepers will not only inspire you, it will make you feel at home in your caring for the environment, by showing you your place in the traditions and philosophy behind the environmental movement.

I bought this book thinking it would offer a profile of environmental activism that could be turned into action by others- I wanted to see how they did what they did. This I got, but also much more. This a most enlightening book, superbly written, difficult to put down. You get not only a history of environmental activism on the Hudson River, but a brief history of same in the U.S., complete with philosophical underpinnings. If you don't know how corporations act in the U.S., or how government complicity coddles them, read this book. If you THINK you know, read this book. If you are at all concerned about your rights as a citizen, and how they relate to the environment, read this book! An important, gripping work, at once hopeful and dismaying- and certainly inspiring.